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December 19, 2016

Trump Considers FDA Chief Who Says People Should Use Medicines “At Their Own Risk”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-considers-fda-chief-who-says-people-should-use-medicines-ldquo-at-their-own-risk-rdquo/
"President-elect Donald Trump is weighing naming as Food and Drug Administration commissioner a staunch libertarian who has called for eliminating the agency’s mandate to determine whether new medicines are effective before approving them for sale. “Let people start using them, at their own risk,” the candidate, Jim O’Neill, said in a 2014 speech to a biotech group. O’Neill, has also called for paying organ donors and setting up libertarian societies at sea—and has said he was surprised to discover that FDA regulators actually enjoy science and like working to fight disease. A source close to the Trump transition team told STAT that Peter Thiel, the billionaire Trump donor who is helping shape the new administration, is pushing for the FDA appointment for O’Neill, his managing director at Mithril Capital Management. Trump’s focus on O’Neill was first reported Wednesday morning by Bloomberg. O’Neill would be an unusual choice. He is not a physician, and lacks the strong science background that nearly all former commissioners have had in recent years."